falcon and wolf 20

 

Chapter 20

 

Luke strolled in on this.

“Who are you?” asked the deputy.

“Are you asking in the spirit of officious nosiness, genuine enquiry, or philosophical discovery of rationalism?” asked Luke. “I mean, I would postulate in the latter case that I think, therefore I am; as a member of the human race it is my duty to strive to transcend all that is mortal and become greater than the sum of my whole.”

“What’s your name?”

“Now, that is a philosophical question. When I was born, I was ‘the baby,’ ‘your new brother,’ and was christened duly as Luke Giles Kyril Levchenko. I generally go as Luke Sokolov, and I am known as ‘The Black Falcon.’ My intended bride calls me ‘Darling,’ my father calls me ‘Son,’ my mother calls me ‘My dear one,’ and one day I shall doubtless be ‘Daddy’ and with luck, ‘Grandpapa.’ Names are relative.”

“You’re Luke Sokolov? It’s my duty to arrest you.”

“What for?” asked Luke.

“Why, setting these traps with dynamite and killing all these people gruesomely!”

“Can’t arrest me for that; it ain’t illegal,” said Luke.

“Of course it’s… what do you mean?”

“I checked on the statute books. So long as the notice is displayed prominently that you mean to exercise your right to use the second amendment, any and all force against burglars and others intending aggravated trespass is permitted.”

“That means shooting them!”.

“Doesn’t say so, though,” said Luke. “Says, ‘any and all means.’ Now, I was expecting an attack from front and back both. I have a little boy to protect, and my friend and I can only fire two guns at once each. I refrained from using a Gatling as it’s a little indiscriminate.”

The deputy gaped.

“Well, why did you go out?”

“I didn’t until all the fireworks were over. Then I had a matter to discuss with my lawyer. We broke out the whisky and he has a very fine coffee. Mr. Chartovsky; you can ask him.”

“I suppose you wouldn’t know about two men bludgeoned to death in Third Street?”

“Do I look as if I bludgeon people?” said Luke, amused.

“I… no,” said the deputy.

“Well, if you’ll excuse me, I want to catch an hour or two of sleep before I have to open shop,” said Luke. “Some of us have jobs to do.” He strolled in leaving the deputy at a loss for words.

“Reckon some of them are paid to be blind to Big Freddy’s business,” said Wolf.

“I was coming to that conclusion,” said Luke.

He was hit by a small missile.

“I am glad you are back safe,” said Tommy.

“I promised I’d look after you,” said Luke.

 

oOoOo

 

Mr. Chartovsky managed to get up after his disturbed night, and went to see the insurance broker.

“Someone was trying to con you, thinking that young Mr. Abbott was stuck in an orphan asylum,” he said, grimly. “I looked out the deeds as I had them amongst the family papers.” He did not say that he had had them amongst the family papers for a grand total of seven hours.

“Dear me!  Well, that all makes things much simpler,” said the insurer. “I confess it sounded rather odd. But I’m not sure what to do… obviously the boy does not have a bank account…”

“Well, that’s where you are wrong,” said Chartovsky. “Young Tommy has been banking earnings towards a college education. And dear me, I need to talk to the bank about probate.”

He fussed off, having provided the details of Tommy’s bank account for the pay out.

 

oOoOo

 

Luke uncovered the sweets, shaking debris onto the ground from the sheets he had thoughtfully put over the barrels. He then assiduously brushed up all the debris, washing down the horrid stains on the sidewalk and in the doorway, and throwing a boot with a bit of foot still in it onto the midden. He made 62 pokes of sweets, and added a few more in case there were more orphans; and put a sign on the door, “We are not only open as usual, but a bit more open than is customary. Free candy. Help yourselves, no catch. Please do not make yourselves sick.”

Then, he wandered over to the orphan asylum.

“A poke of candy each,” he said. “Tell them not to eat it all at once, and to clean their teeth afterwards.”

“Really, sir, orphan brats did not ought to be indulged,” said the director.

“Why not?” said Luke. “They need it more than most kids, because they don’t have parents to spoil them. Anyone would think you believe that it’s their own fault they are orphans; and if you believe any of them are insane and murdered their parents, you should go to the sheriff about it. As it is, they need a bit of fun in their lives. I will check if they got their candy, too,” he added.

He got a sickly smile.

How much corruption could this city have? Luke wondered.

He dropped in on Taylor.

“Your Indian boy has been as good as accusing all of us of taking bribes from Big Freddy!” yapped Taylor.

“Have you?” asked Luke.

“No! Haven’t I accommodated you every way you asked?”

“Yes, but with the threat of the Marshal held over you,” said Luke. “I want you to look me in the eye and tell me you did not plan with Big Freddy to cheat Tommy out of his inheritance and take an interest in the insurance money.”

“I… no!  it wasn’t cheating Tommy Abbott, he was destitute, his pa had sold the hotel to Big Freddy!” squealed the lawman.

Luke lifted him by his shirt front.

“If you did not believe the deal was dodgy, your eyes would not have slid sideways,” said Luke.

“I… I thought he had agreed to sell after he was shot in the knees,” said Taylor.  “And I figured there might be some money for the boy in the sale, but….”

“You are a worm,” said Luke, in disgust. “There was no sale. There is no bill of sale. Tommy saw his father shot, and is a material witness, though I’ve a mind to save the county the cost of a length of rope if I can goad Freddy into standing one on one. That boy and his sister were flogged for asking for their lawyer, a reasonable thing for them to do. I suspect the director of being on the take, I can only describe the big beefy female directrice as ‘the wardress’ and I am not happy about the way it is run. Anyone would think from the way they speak that being orphaned was a crime! I’ll get rid of Freddy and his gang, but you can bloody well check up on other, more mundane things. You shouldn’t be at risk going to sort out an orphanage.”

“You are offensive!”

“Offensive? I haven’t even started to try to be offensive yet,” said Luke. “I can manage far more offensive than that. I can call you a blowhard with delusions of adequacy, a self-made man working with inferior components, and a flaccid, vacuous, waste of space. I could get more creative if you wanted.”

“Get out of my office.”

“I will, so long as you smarten up your act. I won’t be here all the time to clear up your messes,” said Luke. “Now try to be a man, not a centipede with a foot in every camp in a mistaken idea that the bad guys can be appeased. Good day to you.” And he strode out.

“And that, sheriff, is what I said would happen, only I expected it would either be rhe marshal giving you a chewing out, or Freddy when he starts giving you orders not making suggestions,” said one of the deputies, who had deputised for Sam Douglas.”

“I just wanted a quiet city,” said Taylor.

“And sometimes, to get quiet, you have to be noisy,” said the deputy, who looked like a ranny, lean, lantern-jawed, and tough. “You have six deputies and could make others, but Freddy is being mopped up by one man, with help from his partner who’s looking after that little boy as well. I said it would come back and bite you.”

“Yes, I know,” said Taylor, testily. “I shoulda taken Thomas Abbott more serious, and then not have been cowed into acceptin’ that what was done was done. Satisfied?”

“Nope,” said his deputy. “I’ll be satisfied when you do your job.”

“Do you want it?”

“Nope. But if you can’t do it, I will.”

Taylor tore off the badge and threw it at Dan Nelson, his deputy. Nelson put the badge on.

“Reckon I’ll stroll out and see what Mr. Sokolov plans on doing next,” he said.

 

Luke was surprised to get a visit from one of the deputies, now wearing the sheriff’s star.

“How do,” he said. “Join us for a late breakfast?”

“Don’t mind if I do,” said Nelson. “Taylor resigned. I picked up the badge. And on his behalf I want to apologise, Master Abbott, for your ill-treatment. The idiot believed Freddy when he said he’d bought the hotel.”

“I could have told him he never did,” said Tommy.

“I wager you could have told us all a lot,” said Nelson. “But now, I want to work with Mr. Sokolov in ousting Freddy.”

“Well, now!” said Luke.  “I had heard you were an honest man, and my skin crawls when I meet someone who isn’t. And my skin isn’t crawling. When I wasn’t burgling Freddy’s safe last night for the stolen deeds to Abbott’s Hotel, I didn’t come across his book of blackmail. Mr. Chartovsky has it. I am sure he would be happy for it to be in the hands of a conscientious law officer. It’s not my business, but I didn’t feel that it should be left with a tick like Freddy.”

“I can’t really condone breaking and entering,” said Nelson.

“Who was breaking and entering? His back door was unlocked, his office was unlocked, and his safe was unlocked. No breaking and entering in a bit of neighbourly nosiness,” said Luke. “But he did have stolen property belonging to my ward, which I am entitled to repossess.”

“Are you some goddam lawyer?” asked Nelson, suspiciously.

“No, but I am the sometime deputy in a little town called  Eastbend,” said Luke. “We had a foul winter; I read and memorised the statute books, and most people’s statutes don’t say much different. I made sure and look yours up last time I was here. I like to know what I can legally do, and what I cannot.  I expect next time I visit, the use of dynamite to protect property will be prohibited. But you know what? I don’t really care, because it’s done what it was supposed to do. And twenty three bucks and a quarter for a box of dynamite is worth every cent.” 

“If dynamite is used on Freddy, I’ll have to take you in. Your own home only, Mr. Sokolov.”

“Or Tommy’s property,” said Luke, with a limpid look of beatific innocence.

“That… falls within the statutes,” said Nelson. “What were you planning?”

“Oh, I thought a little bird might let Freddy know that Tommy has access to the cellars under the Abbott Hotel, below where it burned, and that he has a safe there with deeds and other documents, his father’s written testament to the threats made, and that counts as a dying deposition, and a stash of gold. As well as hiding out there himself because of having witnessed his daddy’s wounding. These are the guys who did it; you know them?” he showed Nelson the pages.

“Blackjack Berlin and Croaker Pennyman,” said Nelson, right away. “Freddy’s right-hand men.”

“I shall have to invite them over to discuss matters,” said Luke, cracking his knuckles.

“If I leave you free rein to handle Freddy, providing you stay within the law, will you give me courtesy as sheriff to handle everything else?” asked Nelson.

“I’d surely be glad to do so,” said Luke.

They shook on it, and Nelson became another in a long line of sheriffs to appreciate Luke’s way with omelettes.